May 2, 2025
Reception & Presentations 2pm to 5pm
Cal Poly Humboldt Library
Search Presenters & Abstracts
Presenters & Abstracts: Search
Creativity and Wellness at Winship Middle School
MelissaMack
Barker
College Corp
Undergraduate Student
Other
My creative project at Winship was collaborating with the Wellness Center staff to create groups for students. One group is meditative in nature, playing some soothing live instruments for students while they relax and take notes on how the instruments affect them. I also teach them about the instruments and about sound in general. In the other group, students create characters and shape a world in which they go on a quest together. This allows them freedom of expression while building community.
Only Birds Can Start Wildfires
Nathan Chavez
Wildlife Conservation and Management
Undergraduate Student
Payton Wills
Wildlife Conservation and Management
Undergraduate Student
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
Our creative project is going to revolve around the ecological knowledge of the Chicken Hawk that is from Indigenous people of the Humboldt County area. We want to show the significance that Chicken Hawk has in their culture and how it correlates to scientific research that has been done and is being done on them today. We aim to show how ecological knowledge can be applied to current research and assist modern day scientists.
Toward Automated Thesis Classification: Open-Sourced AI Foundations for Libraries
Courtney
Rowe
Computer Science
Undergraduate Student
Library
University libraries often face challenges in making student research more accessible. Manual tagging of theses is time-consuming, while commercial AI tools can be costly and limit institutional control. This project, in collaboration with the Cal Poly Humboldt Press and the TIDE computing cluster, fine-tuned an open-source AI model, ModernBERT, to automatically classify theses using the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The model performed well, demonstrating a promising, cost-effective approach for libraries to enhance research discoverability while retaining ownership and flexibility.
Female Religious Leaders of Humboldt
Madison Hazen
Religious Studies
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
The aim of this research is to gain insight into the experience of female religious leaders in Humboldt County, centering around the challenges, obstacles, and opportunities faced by women in these roles. How do such figures view their gender has affected them in terms of authority, personal spirituality, and relationship to religious tradition? By conducting a series of ethnographic interviews with local religious leaders, these questions have been explored across faith traditions. The examination of gender and power is not only limited to a religious setting, but extends broadly to society as a whole.
Avian Occurrence Data Extraction Using Python Programming
Holli Pruhsmeier
Environmental Science and Management
Graduate Student
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
Bird detection data helps inform management on how species might be shifting their distributions due to changes in the environment. This project uses a Python program to create a graphical user interface (GUI) that assists in gathering avian species occurrence data from a number of biological information websites such as Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON), eBird, and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Data is extracted to contain location coordinates of the detection along with the species name. The final data is exported as a comma separated values (CSV) file into a created desktop folder that can be imported into a geographical information system.
Anthropogenic feeding of California ground squirrels in an urban state park
Vanessa
Ramirez
Wildlife
Undergraduate Student
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
California ground squirrels are an abundant wildlife species at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area in San Francisco, where they are regularly fed by park visitors. The goal of this study was to provide the park with useful information about the ecology of their resident ground squirrel population including their activity patterns, the types of human foods in their diets, and potential impacts of access to anthropogenic food sources. Understanding how these squirrels interact with visitors and how these interactions influence their behavior and body condition is important for management of both park visitors and wildlife.
Molecular and Serological detection of Rickettsia species Phylotype G022 and R. tillamookensis in Dogs
Nicholas
Woronchuk
Biological Sciences
Graduate Student
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
Rickettsia bacteria cause several human diseases. Ixodes pacificus, a common human biting tick, vectors Rickettsia species phylotype G022 (G022) and Rickettsia tillamookensis. Both species shares an evolutionary lineage with known rickettsial pathogens and have a low prevalence in I. pacificus. Recently the incidence of rickettsial diseases has increased, along with vector borne diseases (VBD). Between 2004-2016 a total of 491,671 cases of tick-borne diseases were reported in the United States (76% of all VBD). The pathogenicity of G022 and R. tillamookensis has never been documented. Here we report that G022 and R. tillamookensis have the capacity to be horizontally transmitted to mammals.
Early Intervention for Young Children in Improving Future Outcomes
Justene Skrentny
Child Development
Undergraduate Student
College of Professional Studies
The project is based on a review study being done to understand different types of early interventions (0-8 years) that are available to help young children and their families in improving the future outcomes of the children. In this paper, I define early intervention, present different areas and formats, list various programs available in the Humboldt County, and make recommendations for parents and professionals who work with them.
Why What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas
Janna Trowbridge
English
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
"What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas" is much more than a catchy saying. An economic tool, this slogan has shaped the city. Through the use of billboards, casinos and shows Vegas offers anything one could need to fulfill their wildest fantasies. Drugs, sex and entertain are readily available. Vegas is much more than a destination it is a state of mind, one that is often detrimental. Exploiting the worst of human desire, Vegas earns the name "Sin City".
~OG~ Organic Guru ~ Humboldt Homegrown Handmade and Fair Trade ~ Sustainable Village Project
Barbara Nearing
ccat
Graduate Student
Other
Organic Guru is an organic food company and sustainable village. The food company replaces Sysco, and US Foods as a restaurant and small market supply, supplying Humboldt's restaurants, schools and general population with organic food. The profits in turn support a sustainable/ecovillage which provide quality sustainable housing such as tee pee's, yurts, for either permeant or transitional housing. allowing for a large segment of the population to have food shelter clothing and income. We also have planned to create a product line of food to sell at the retail stores, and restaurants, such as kombucha, teas, superfood cookies, pasta sauces. Like Newmans own.